


Rule Number One: You Gotta Have Fun

by AppleEye



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Drunk Sex, Grinding, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 20:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2441204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleEye/pseuds/AppleEye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First part of "How To Be A Heartbreaker" series.</p>
<p>Merlin is used to being a manwhore. He doesn't really care who with, but he likes to sleep around. He recently finished a quick fling with a mate, Gwaine, and was getting lonely and desperate. Enter Arthur, who makes Merlin doubt his own mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rule Number One: You Gotta Have Fun

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER WRITTEN ANYTHING REMOTELY SMUTTY AND OH MY GOD IT FELT ODD
> 
> Anyway, the other day I thought of this fic idea and I'm so excited for it! Hope you guys like it! (Two more parts)
> 
> Sorry if the spaces between paragraphs are weird, trying to get used to this formatting
> 
> PLEASE LET ME KNOW OF ANY MISTAKES, ENJOY! <3

Rule number one, 

Is that you gotta have fun,

But baby when you're done, 

You gotta be the first to run.

~~~

Merlin may have slammed the phone down too harshly, but he had good reason for it. Work wanted him in, just as he was settling for a night of TV and not giving a damn about anything going on outside of his front door. 

But no; for some reason, Merlin was the only one who could cover the late night shift down at work. He was ridiculously tempted to tell his manager two very special words (the second one being “off”). This was just the life he must chose to lead.

Instead of pondering on it any longer, Merlin grabbed his jacket, put away his bag of crisps and headed out the door, beginning the ten-minute-walk to the shop. The advantage to the walk is that it gave Merlin time to plan things, if he did ever have anything to plan. Last week he’d finished his fling with Gwaine, so pretty soon Merlin knew he’d need to go out and get someone to ‘pass the time’ with. 

Merlin always chose wisely, he didn’t ever intentionally break hearts. It wasn’t his fault if his fling was more invested in their night of fucking than he was, it just happened. Usually, they didn’t seem to mind too much, but once or twice Merlin encountered someone who tried organising later dinners, drinks, sometimes even weekends away. 

There had never been anyone to blow his mind enough to make him want to stay longer, anyway. Plus, commitment just sounded boring; the same person, every day. No more of the electric thrill of first kisses, no more learning each other’s bodies, what they like most or don’t like, what makes them really move¬¬-

“Merlin, so happy you turned up!” Greeted Merlin’s manager, Gaius. 

“Yeah, well, not like I had a choice.” Came Merlin’s reply, with a slight shrug. He didn’t ever hide when he wasn’t happy with a situation, and Gaius was used to that by now.

“Well, maybe, if this is such a bore for you, someone else could do it? And earn the overtime?” 

“…I’m fine.”

“Thought so.”

Merlin went into the back room and grabbed his apron with the shop logo on it. The shop sold anything a regular person could need, from groceries, to pills, to late-night-bad-day supplies. Maybe that was a bit specific, but it was true. That’s probably the only reason it was still open. They were all hard workers, Merlin included, even though he always acted unhappy about it. Truth is, the people here were like a second family to him, and he loved that they’d all bonded, loved how he found somewhere he felt accepted.

“Oh, so you did show up. I had a bet going with Freya that you’d come down with man-flu. Again.” A voice teased from behind Merlin.

“Thanks, Will. Always great to know I have the support of my co-workers.” Merlin turned to face his friend, arms folded across his chest to act displeased. Will saw through this though, a cheeky smile on his face.

“Glad to have the company, if I’m honest. Freya just finished her shift, so it’s you or the drunken bald bloke who comes in.”

“The one with the hand-tattoo and the bad breath?”

“Yeah, him.”

“Good thing I came to save you, then.” Merlin ended the sentence with an elbow-nudge to Will’s side before heading to the till, typing in his code to get signed in. Once he was set up, he let out a long sigh. 

This was going to be a long night.

~~~

It was a long night. Luckily, Merlin was fifteen minutes from the end of his shift and the only people he’d encountered were two women grabbing some booze for a party, drunken-bald-guy-with-hand-tattoo and a boy (not much younger than Merlin) looking quite urgent and buying a packet of condoms. 

Merlin envied him. It had been about a week and a half since Gwaine and him had their last screw, and he was getting bored of the lonely life, and it had hardly even been that long. Merlin felt pathetic. Pathetic and desperate, but for some reason he just didn’t care.

To keep himself from falling asleep at his till, Merlin was leant forward with his elbows on the counter, flicking through a random fashion magazine that was left over. He was quite content, until he was interrupted by an impatient sounded cough from in front of him.

Merlin dropped the magazine on the counter, stood up straight and looked at the man in front of him.

“Sorry to distract you from your riveting read.” The man spoke, obviously sarcastic. His voice was clear, and rather posh. Well, in Merlin’s eyes anyway. He also had blonde hair, swept to the side over his forehead, and piercing blue-eyes.

“Well, you did stop me from finding out why I shouldn’t match brash colours with light ones, but I guess I could learn to forgive you.” If Blue-Eyes could be sarcastic, then Merlin could return it.

Blondie rolled his eyes and placed his items on the counter. Merlin picked them each up, scanning them and watching the price come up on his screen. Sometimes Merlin observed what people were buying to learn more about them. Why? Because it was a boring job and he had nothing better to do. Blondie was buying a bottle of water, gum and a single yoghurt. There wasn’t much he could tell about this.

“So, what are you doing out so late?” Merlin was always nice to customers, even the pricks. Although, he wasn’t sure about Blondie here, yet.

“Do you seriously care?” Blondie muttered as he got his wallet out, clearly not bothered with sticking around or chatting.

“Well, service with a smile and all that.”

“Can’t exactly call it that, if you’re not even doing your bloody job. How much is it?” Now he was speaking sternly. Wow. Someone was not in a good mood.

“Well, alright then.” Merlin took the money and handed back the change to Blondie, putting the items in a bag. He didn’t get a chance to pass them over though, as they were snatched away from his hand by Blondie. “Have a nice evening.”

“Yup.” Blondie said as he turned quickly and marched out.

Definitely a prick.

~~~  
The next morning, Merlin woke up at half past ten. It had been a late work night, not helped by the fact that he’d watched about six Friends episodes when he got back home in order to distract himself from his conversation with Blondie that night. However, his mind wasn’t completely clear of the encounter as one of Merlin’s dreams had a very different version of events of their conversation. 

Merlin shook it off. This kind of thing was normal for him. He was lonely and in need of shag, so it was completely ordinary for him to have a dream about the first pretty boy he sees. In his dream, however, Blondie didn’t talk. 

Luckily for him, Merlin’s shift today was just a few hours in the afternoon. He did work overtime, after all, so deserved more of a rest. Of course, he’d prefer if he didn’t have to go in at all, but more money means he could go to a bar with friends. 

For breakfast, Merlin ate a satsuma and three chocolate digestives. Whilst he picked at his ‘breakfast’, he watched re-runs of Scrubs and Friends, feeling as if this was a very productive use of his day. 

Of course, in this time, there wasn’t much to talk about. But after he’d arrived at work, said his ‘hello’s to his co-workers, Merlin stood at his till once again. Of course, everything went fairly normally, until he saw a head of blonde hair that brought a strange feeling of nervousness to Merlin’s lower chest.

Blondie caught Merlin’s eye, only holding the gaze for a second before walking off down one of the aisles. Luckily, this gave Merlin some time to bring up his courage. He should be known by now for his quick comebacks when people tried to joke about him.

When Blondie had picked out his items, he walked straight up to Merlin’s till, placing them on the counter in front of him.

“I see you’re not engrossed in a magazine, this time.” Blondie commented. Ah, so he did remember him. Merlin was kind of hoping he didn’t, for some reason.

“Well, I’ve learnt all I could from them. And hasn’t it paid off?” Merlin fluttered his eyelashes sweetly, twirling for added affect. It seemed to work, as Blondie has a small smile playing on the corner of his lips that he was trying so desperately to hide.

“Sure.” Was all he replied. Merlin had an effect on Blondie, and that’s all that mattered. It made confidence swell inside of Merlin, and he was almost tempted to see how far he could push it.

Merlin scanned each item again, and was confused for a few moments as to why they were exactly the same ones as before. The thought didn’t stay for long as Merlin glanced up at Blondie through his eyelashes, trying to seem coy. He noticed Blondie pressing his lips together.

“Two pounds then, please.” Merlin said once he’d finished scanning the items. Today, Blondie didn’t have his wallet out so eagerly. He placed the coins in Merlin’s held out hand, and Merlin allowed his fingertips to brush over Blondie’s wrist. Merlin managed to stifle a quiet laugh when he noticed the slight red blush appearing on the other’s cheeks. “Have a great day...handsome.” 

Blondie nodded a ‘farewell’ and quickly hurried out of the shop. Merlin allowed himself to grin, nobody else was around, and therefore nobody could judge him. 

But now it had backfired on Merlin, and he wanted Blondie. Whatever the guy’s name was. He was really starting to crave reaching out and grabbing the man by his stupidly smart dress shirt and pulling him in, kneeling on the counter and just-

‘No. No, don’t think about this at work. Wait about thirty minutes, go him, and think about it then’ Merlin thought to himself, rather sternly. A boner at work was something Merlin did not need.

The time went by slower than Merlin would have preferred, and all Merlin wanted to do was get out of the shop. But no, Will had to stop him.

“Hey, mate, I know you’re just going but-“ Will opened the conversation with.  
“No, you I am not covering your shift.”

“That’s not what I was going to say! But glad to know where you stand.” Will mocked offence at Merlin’s quick response, but then carried on with his original point. “Bunch of friends and I are going out, and by the look on your face through most of your shift, I think you should come with us.”

“Well…it’s that, or a night in with popcorn and a Sherlock re-watch.” Merlin said the words as if he were seriously considering the two options.

Will laughed softly and nodded. “We’re meeting at The Rising Sun at seven. Look forward to seeing ya!” He headed back to stack shelves whilst Merlin turned and left, heading home to prepare himself for the night ahead.

 

~~~  
Merlin decided to wear a deep blue button-up shirt with black jeans and his normal shoes. His hair was slightly messy, but styled, making it look like he hadn’t made an effort, but really he had. Normally, he wouldn’t care so much, but tonight he was on a mission to pull someone. Just someone attractive and up for something. 

Instead of wasting perfectly good drinking money on a taxi, Merlin decided to walk to the pub. Working at a shop didn’t give him the biggest pay checks, and he would rather save it for getting well and truly sloshed. 

When he walked in the pub, Merlin immediately saw Will at a table in the corner with a group of people, chatting away. When Will noticed him, he grinned and let out a pleased “Heeey” sort of cheer. So the drinking and already started. 

“Merlin! Merlin’s here everyone, look at Merlin!” Will walked over, placing a hand on Merlin’s back and led him the table. “Say hi, Merlin.”

“Hey there-“ Merlin would’ve carried on speaking, but he saw a familiar pair of icy blue eyes staring up at him from the table. Of course, they belonged to Blondie. This was Merlin’s luck, just his luck (and he couldn’t tell if he was sarcastic about that or not).

Everyone at the table began introducing themselves. Freya was already there, along with some others. There was a curly-haired bloke called Leon, a curly-haired girl called Gwen, her brother Elyan, a man who looked too buff for his shirt called Percy and a sweet but devious appearing girl called Mithian. Overall, they seemed nice. 

This was when Merlin learnt of Blondie’s true name; Arthur. It seemed fitting. Posh Arthur. Head-up-his-own-arse Arthur. 

Buff Percy got up to get the next round of drinks for everyone at the table. And of bloody course, Merlin was sat next to Arthur. Neither looked, let alone spoke to each other through the first round of drinks. 

Halfway through the next round (which Leon kindly bought), Merlin actually decided to look over at Blon- Arthur. And Arthur looked back.

Merlin offered a kind smile, very different from his flirtatious manner earlier that day. 

“So, Arthur.” Merlin began, trying to get some form of conversation going, he really didn’t enjoy awkward situations. “Hi.” He eventually settled for.

This caused Arthur to grin back, and Merlin noted in his head that it was the first time he’d seen Arthur smile. Actually properly smile. And it was sweet. It was genuine, reaching his blue eyes. 

“Hey.” It was a simple response, but good enough. “I guess reading that magazine paid off, you look rather co-ordinated, colour-wise.”

Merlin chuckled and shrugged a shoulder, letting himself smile. “Was that a compliment?”

“Hm, to your clothes. The hair still needs work.” Arthur squinted slightly, pretending to be observing Merlin’s fashion choices.

This led to a whole conversation between the two of them, surprisingly. Merlin was even more glad that he decided to come out tonight.

One by one, everyone was saying how they were tired and said their good-byes, up until the point it was just Merlin and Arthur sat there at the table together, still talking.

“So what, she was just, chewing your face off or something?” Merlin was trying hard not to laugh during his sentence after Arthur’s story.

“It certainly felt that way! I didn’t know what to expect! I just walked her to her do and then all of a sudden my lips are caught in her mouth and her tongue down my throat.” Arthur visibly cringed as he finished his sentence, Merlin felt tears from laughter come to his eyes.

“Wow. Just…just wow.” His laughter slowly died down and he leant back in his seat, looking up at Arthur. They stayed like that for a while, looking.

“Definitely wasn’t a good first kiss.”

“No?”

“No.” Arthur grinned, letting out a soft laugh as he shook his head.

Another pause.

Merlin felt the courage from the alcohol build up inside of him.  
“Well…I’m sure you can get a better one.”

“Yeah?”

Pause.

“Yeah…” Merlin said softly as he leaned in, cupping the back of Arthur’s head and pressing their lips together. His nerves had caused him to mainly get Arthur’s lower lip, but Arthur certainly didn’t seem to mind as he let out a soft groan against Merlin’s lips.

Arthur’s hand moved to Merlin’s waist as they moved their lips in time. All of Merlin’s senses were tingling, he felt the warmth of Arthur’s hand through his thin dress shirt, wanting the layer of clothing to be gone to feel the rough hand against his own pale skin. Arthur’s lips were slightly chapped, but plump and seemed to fit Merlin’s well.

When their lips moved apart, Arthur saw it as an opportunity to trail his tongue along Merlin’s lower one, causing a shiver from the dark-haired man, and suddenly he needed so much more. It itched at his skin.

Merlin was the one to broke the kiss, causing a confused look from Arthur.

“My place.” He whispered, breathlessly and grabbed Arthur’s hand, not waiting for a response as they marched out of the pub together. 

Neither bothered calling a taxi, it would take too long. They walked hastily, arms around each other as they walked, side by side. Arthur’s hand was resting on Merlin’s arse, quite comfortably, and Merlin had no objections whatsoever. 

Once Merlin had opened the door to his flat, he felt himself pressed up against the door the moment it was closed, and they carried on their kiss. Now it was much less careful, the men weren’t worried about taking their time. Merlin realised this as he began to unbutton Arthur’s shirt, sliding his hands under the open shirt. Arthur’s skin was slightly tanned, and smooth. Merlin wanted to kiss over all of it, savouring the feel.

They stumbled to Merlin’s bedroom together, landing on the bed with Merlin on top of Arthur, resting happily between the other’s legs as he kissed down Arthur’s neck quickly. The jeans were next off of both of them, and they quickly began grinding their crotches together.

Merlin was no longer even trying to keep his moans in, letting the soft noises out into Arthur’s mouth. The blonde’s fingers were gripping tightly on Merlin’s hips, pulling him even closer. The friction was taking the edge of the heat building up inside Merlin, but at the same time it built up. 

And it was over embarrassingly quickly for both. Merlin finished with a random string of words such as “Fuck fuck fuck fuck Arthur”. 

When it was over, Merlin lay, panting heavily against Arthur’s neck. They held each other, and this is what was missing with Gwaine.

This is what was missing with everyone Merlin had slept with.

And that made him confused as to why he was letting this happen, so he rolled off the other man, sitting up and running his fingers through his hair. God, he looked a mess.

“You okay?” Arthur murmured sleepily from behind him. “You better not be running out on me.” 

“Course not, just taking a breather.”

Arthur slowly sat up, placing several kisses along Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin turned his head to look at him, and Arthur smiled ever so sweetly up at him that Merlin couldn’t help but smile back.

“You better be making me breakfast in the morning.” Merlin spoke before placing a quick kiss on Arthur’s lips, and the fact that he could so comfortably do this worried him. 

But that could wait until later.


End file.
